Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has imposed ban on the sale of Subscriber Identification module (SIMs) at the shops from December 1 and now only mobile companies would be authorized to issue SIMs from their franchises.
According to a handout issued by PTA, the ban was imposed on the directions of Interior Ministry, led by Rehman Malik and now the prepaid SIMs would be issued in the same manner as in the case of post paid.
The consumer had to provide documents including National Identity Card (NIC) and utility bills to the mobile company franchise.
The SIM will finally be issued to the subscriber after getting a go ahead from National Database and Regulation Authority (NADRA).
The representative of mobile company would also visit the house, office and shop of the consumer, mentioned in his documents, before the issuance of SIM.
The handout also said that one person can only possess five SIMs at a time.
The PTA decision would badly hurt the mobile SIM companies as almost 25 million SIMs would be returned from the shops, costing five companies almost Rs. 2 billion.
The government of Pakistan would also be deprived of Rs 1 billion in the form of taxes.
The PTA also ended the portability service, which enables consumer to shift from one mobile network to another having the same number.
Blog post Written by Abdullah Zafar and You can visit the original article at http://www.thenewstribe.com/